## Facts

- G-Star Raw CV, a Dutch clothing company, claimed copyright in its “ARC” jeans design and “ROWDY” sweatshirt/T-shirt designs.
- G-Star alleged Cofemel—Sociedade de Vestuário SA, a Portuguese clothing company, produced and sold clothing that copied those designs and also engaged in unfair competition.
- Portuguese trial and appellate courts found the designs were copyright-protected “works” and that Cofemel infringed.
- On further appeal, Portugal’s Supreme Court questioned whether Portuguese law could require designs (applied art) to produce a “specific aesthetic effect” or satisfy a higher artistic-value threshold to receive copyright protection.
- The Supreme Court referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Directive 2001/29/EC and its relationship to EU design-law instruments.

## Issues

1. Whether EU copyright law supplies a uniform, autonomous concept of “work” applicable to designs, including clothing designs.
2. Whether a design protected by EU design law may also receive copyright protection, and on what conditions.
3. Whether EU law permits a national rule conditioning copyright protection for designs on producing a “specific aesthetic effect” or meeting a particular artistic/aesthetic-value threshold beyond originality.

## Decision

- The CJEU held that “work” is an autonomous EU-law concept applicable across subject matter, including designs.
- A design may receive cumulative protection under both design law and copyright if it qualifies as a “work.”
- A “work” requires (1) originality, meaning the author’s own intellectual creation, and (2) protectable elements that express that creation.
- Article 2(a) of Directive 2001/29/EC precludes national rules or judicial approaches that add a requirement that a design produce a “specific aesthetic effect” or have particular artistic value.
- The case was returned to the Portuguese Supreme Court to apply the EU standard to the dispute.

## Legal Principles

- EU copyright law uses an autonomous, uniform concept of “work” that cannot be altered by member-state qualitative thresholds.
- A “work” exists where the subject matter is original as the author’s own intellectual creation and its identifiable elements express that creation.
- Designs and works of applied art are not subject to a higher artistic-merit test; functional or industrial character does not bar copyright if the originality standard is met.
- National “aesthetic effect” tests are incompatible with EU law because they introduce subjective, non-harmonized criteria beyond originality.

## Conclusion

The CJEU required member states to apply a single EU standard for copyrightability of designs: originality as the author’s own intellectual creation, without additional aesthetic or artistic-value requirements, while permitting cumulative copyright and design-law protection when that standard is satisfied.


Cofemel—Sociedade de Vestuário SA v. G-Star Raw CV, Case C-683/17 (C.J.E.U. 2019)